Sitting comfortably and slouched on his chair, wearing his bright blue hat, He’s always putting a smile on his face, glad to be in the presence of the students. He treats everyone with the same amount of kindness and respect. Being the gentle giant he is, he has some crazy stories to tell about his life at West Leyden High School.
A hero. A former commander. A car addict. These are all things that describe Reggie Morris. A big, buff guy, Reggie Morris, who is a security guard at West Leyden, has been working here for over 20 years. He is the second longest working school staff member and till this day, he has experienced some wild moments since his time at Leyden. According to Morris He feels as if he’s had a big impact on students in his years working as a security guard.
He’s always felt as if he’s made a big change in students’ lives, and being the hero students can depend on and lay their backs on. Feeling proud of himself he states, “I feel as if I do and have made a difference in this school”
“His name is James,” he says. “He went to school here at West Leyden, stood at about 6 ‘7 and played basketball. When he first came here, he was in his sophomore year. Time went by, he was hanging around the wrong kids and one of them was his cousin. We talked for a minute the second month he was here and I told him, ‘don’t get involved, grow, get education, play ball, move on and make something of yourself.’” Protecting James from the dangers he could’ve faced, Morris explains, “Fast forward many years to when I recently saw him, we talked about it. He’s been married now for 12 years. He has a family with the same girl that he met here at Leyden. He played ball in Europe for two years and became an engineer.
“That’s the difference I feel that I have made working here” says Reggie, explaining his craziest story yet: “15 kids got arrested for starting a mob fight, a gang fight. It was at a football game. Two gangs got into a fight and there were about 15 individuals.” He goes on, “I was called from the fieldhouse to the football stands running to try and stop this fight. About 4 or 5 different departments had to come to assess the situation and arrested all 15 kids.”
Morris has had a hell of a journey throughout his years in Leyden both good and bad. He looks back from where he started saying he was a “watch commander” at the Chicago public housing and the different jobs he’s had to move around and work at before coming to Leyden. “I used to work in housing. I was a watch commander at the Chicago public housing. And after a while they closed housing down. After that I then worked for Rush hospital on patrol for a while and later on I also patrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology for a bit. After a while, I finally moved to Leyden because a friend of mine that worked at the hospital worked here.”
Apart from being known as a security guard, Morris explains, “I have several hobbies, one of them being riding motorcycles. Since I was eight, my dad taught me how to ride bikes and so I used to race them for trophies. Riding bikes gives me a connection with my dad and with my brother but it is mostly about the freedom,” he says. “It’s really nice just to get away and have a conversation with yourself and you get your music playing. Most guys have music in their helmets. I put up a stereo system so it’s just music in your face and music in your ears. It’s a beautiful thing,” he says while smiling with joy.
Riding and racing motorcycles, Reggie also had a hobby in driving cars: “I also raced cars, I had a Ford Mustang 5.0 LX, it was so sweet. I had to sell it,” he says saddened. “I bought it for 12 thousand and sold it for 17 thousand dollars because it had a lot of work put into it. I changed the gears, I worked on the exhaust system, mid ranger and the suspensions.” Putting so much money into his car, he continues to say he “changed the tires, lowered the shocks, changed the brakes, calibers,” and so much more continuing and showing his love for this car.
Reggie Morris continues to become a better person and leads students towards the right direction protecting them and the school from all the trouble that could come their way.
